Book Review: Ray Zacek’s “The Daguerreotype”

I’m always delighted when a friend sends me a book he has written and I love the book, since it means I can write an honest, favorable review. I’ve already read and positively reviewed one book from Ray Zacek (The Taxman Cometh) and it’s my pleasure to give a positive, albeit short, review of his latest effort, The Daguerreotype.

I thought Zacek’s The Taxman Cometh was an excellent novella. The Daguerreotype is even better, showing Zacek’s development as a writing. Zacek is an economical writer who never uses one word more or less than is absolutely necessary to tell his tale. That technique works very well in this book, which ties together two ostensibly separate stories, one set in early 1840s Paris and the other in modern-day America. Both stories revolve around a daguerreotype and move, slowly but inexorably, from a prosaic beginning to a thrilling, and entirely unexpected, conclusion.

I highly recommend this book, which is perfect reading for a dark, rainy afternoon. The book will make the afternoon fly by, while the ever-so-slightly claustrophobic feel of the rainy day will add a little something extra to this subtle, yet exciting book